298 
OUR HOME BIRDS. 
coat of bluish-ash, trimmed with black and white ; a 
vest of white, marked with fine, wavy, transverse 
lines ; white knee-breeches and black stockings. His 
eyes are dark and piercing ; his nose Napoleonic ;* his 
forehead high and white; his moustache as heavy 
and black as that of any cavalier in Spain. 
“ ‘ This Mephistopheles among birds is a ruffian 
truly, yet with a polish and courage without bravado 
which commend him. Being an outlaw in the avian 
kingdom, he can only maintain himself by adroit- 
ness and force, but has such singular impetuosity, 
prudence, and fortitude that he is not only able to 
keep himself and his retainers in health and wealth 
and happiness, but to gratify his bloodthirsty love 
of revenge by killing numberless innocents without 
mercy. Thus he has struck terror to the heart of 
every feathered inhabitant of the January woods. 
“ ‘ Like Caesar, he knows and joyously endures 
hunger and cold and thirst. Is it biting, freezing 
weather and blinding snow ? Little cares he ; he 
can then the more easily surprise his benumbed prey. 
Is it a warm, sap-starting, inviting day? He is at 
the festival of the birds, a fatal intruder into many 
a happy circle. His favorite perch is the high rider 
of some lonely fence, where he waits quietly till a 
luckless field-mouse creeps out and he is able to 
pounce upon it, or an incautious sparrow or kinglet 
